Collaborative Research: Google Earth for Onsite and Distance Education (GEODE)

该合作项目建立在先前工作的基础上，以谷歌地球虚拟地球仪的功能为基础，扩展、增强和传播地球科学学习资源。该项目的组成部分包括：1)开发一套全球分布的交互式虚拟实地考察，增加高分辨率的十亿像素全景图像、虚拟露头和标本，并自动对谷歌地球基地进行评分；2)使用地球引擎API将大型地球科学数据集集成到虚拟地球中，使基于探究的学习和本科生研究成为可能；3)扩展工具包，包括移动应用程序。为了使更广泛的教师和学生能够为在线存储库贡献众包数据和教育资源，4)开展面对面和在线教师专业发展研讨会以促进使用，以及5)通过调查、点击流数据和前后测试相结合来评估传播工作和学生学习成果。这个项目的智力价值在于它能够利用用户友好的、尖端的虚拟地球和十亿像素成像技术来吸引学生参与一系列的学习活动和虚拟环境。评估将通过调查和前后测试收集的离散数据与更连续的点击流数据相结合，以深入了解学生在这种虚拟环境中的学习情况。该项目的更广泛影响包括：1)其在广泛的机构中的适用性，既可以作为正式的课程作业，也可以作为本科地球科学课程内外的辅助用途；2)广泛的教师专业发展，使用面对面、网络研讨会和小组视频会议方法；3)专门为职前科学教师开发材料；4)为行动不便的学生提供访问机会。以及那些有工作或家庭责任限制参加实际实地考察的学生。

This collaborative project builds on prior work to expand, augment and disseminate geoscience learning resources based on the affordances of the Google Earth virtual globe. Components of the project include 1) development of a suite of globally distributed interactive virtual fields trips which add high-resolution gigapixel panoramic images, virtual outcrops and specimens, and automated grading to the Google Earth base, 2) using the Earth Engine API to integrate large geoscience datasets into the virtual globe, enabling additional forms of inquiry-based learning and undergraduate research, 3) expanding toolkits, including mobile apps, to enable a broader range of faculty and students to contribute crowd-sourced data and educational resources to an online repository, 4) conducting face-to-face and online faculty professional-development workshops to promote use, and 5) assessing dissemination efforts and student learning gains through a combination of surveys, clickstream data and pre-/post-tests. The intellectual merit of this project lies in its ability to leverage user-friendly, cutting-edge virtual-globe and gigapixel-imaging technology to engage students in an array of learning activities and virtual settings. Assessment is combining discrete collection of data through surveys and pre- and post-tests with more-continuous clickstream data to provide insights into how students learn in such virtual environments. The broader impacts of the project include 1) its applicability across a wide range of institutions, both as formal course assignments and for ancillary use in and beyond the undergraduate geoscience curriculum, 2) extensive faculty professional development using face-to-face, webinar and group-video-conferencing approaches, 3) materials development specifically for pre-service science teachers, and 4) provision of access for mobility-impaired students, as well as those with work or family commitments which limit participation in actual field trips.